Surfaces Concert Review | Cleveland, OH

“Good 2 Be Back,” the appropriately titled tour for College Station, Texas native fusion band, Surfaces, stopped at Cleveland’s House of Blues Friday (11.12.21). Good 2 Be Back? Indeed!

Delivering a fun, energetic, and memorable performance at House Of Blues, the band strolled on stage to “Climb,” the instrumental introduction to their latest album, ‘Pacifico,’ which dropped this past summer. With the audience members screaming in anticipation, the band members entered the stage one at a time, and smoothly transitioned into “Hideaway,” a perfect opener to set the tone for a captivating and intriguing performance.

With lights changing perfectly to the reggae-inspired rhythm, red, blue, yellow, and orange were often used to remind the audience of summertime and beachside views (hard to imagine that summer was only a few short months ago), engaging the audience to experience the music in the atmosphere it was made in. Colin Padelecki, vocalist, keyboardist, and guitarist matched lead singer Forrest Frank’s energy perfectly from start to finish.

The duo was extremely engaged with the audience, especially since the people were within five feet of the stage. You could really tell they were excited to be performing again and love their fans. During their performance of “Take it Easy”, the fans had thrown two Leis (the flower necklaces) to Padelecki and Frank, who both put them on and smiled towards their fans as they cheered. Both musicians had accepted different phones from fans and recorded themselves mid-performance; returning the phone to the excited fan immediately after. At one point, a fan had thrown their phone from at least 15 feet away; Forrest confidently caught it, took a selfie, and threw it back to the fan who caught it without trouble, all while singing and dancing effortlessly.

Many fans had talked about how the live performance sounds remarkably similar to the recorded songs they listen to all the time, which is astonishing to hear and truly showcases the talent that Surfaces has to both perform and produce.

The duo was accompanied by saxophone player Lito Hernandez, who occasionally stole the show with his incredible sax solos when he wasn’t playing the keyboard. The boys from Texas truly showed their appreciation for him and yielded the spotlight for his solos, which were captivating and deserved the cheerful screams from the audience whenever he started playing.

After their performance of “Wave of You,” the fellas ducked off the stage after saying their goodnights and thank yous. Wanting one last song, the crowd chanted “Sunday Best!” for about two minutes. And just when an uneasy thought that they wouldn’t come back fell over the crowd, Colin ran out with a cowbell, Forrest with microphone in hand, and Lito ran to the keys. The crowd roared and sang louder than ever! Surfaces had given one of the most energetic and memorable encores this side of the pandemic.